Intevac, Inc. (Nasdaq: IVAC), a supplier of thin-film processing systems, today announced an INTEVAC MATRIX PVD order for fan-out applications in the advanced semiconductor packaging market. This order follows the successful completion of the fan-out evaluation program with a leading outsourced assembly and test company (OSAT) in March 2021, and the system will be both booked and recognized as revenue in the first quarter of 2021.
“The successful completion of the evaluation program, and subsequent purchase order and customer acceptance of the tool, is important validation that the MATRIX PVD fan-out wafer- and panel-level system meets the requirements for the next-generation advanced semiconductor packaging market,” commented Wendell Blonigan, president and chief executive officer of Intevac. “We are pleased to have surmounted pandemic-related challenges, including international travel restrictions, in order to complete the evaluation early in 2021 and book this first MATRIX PVD for advanced semiconductor packaging applications. On our last earnings call, our Q1 outlook was inclusive of the expectation of the program’s successful completion, and system acceptance, booking and revenue, and we are very pleased to announce that the system will be recorded in Q1.”
Semiconductor device packaging technology in general, and fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP) / fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) technology in particular, is being driven by the strong cost advantages these advanced packaging technologies offer over the expense of implementing continued Moore’s Law progress for sub-10nm semiconductor IC process nodes. Fan-out packaging provides for increased I/O (Input/Output) density for a given semiconductor device while simultaneously supporting smaller die sizes, thereby reducing the amount of space integrated circuit content occupies in handheld consumer electronic products, such as smartphones, wearables, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
The INTEVAC MATRIX® is a high-productivity, substrate-independent thin-film processing platform that is well-positioned for multiple fan-out packaging applications. The MATRIX Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) system offers a much-reduced cost of ownership (COO) over the current PVD process tools being used for Redistribution Layer (RDL) barrier/seed layer applications, and also offers the flexibility to run multiple substrates on the same system, from wafer-level (round) substrates to panel-level (square or rectangular) substrates, which today are up to 600mm in size.
